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Utica council debates local law to suspend 2025 cost-of-living raises; attorney says referendum required
Summary
At a special Utica Common Council meeting, members discussed an introductory local law to suspend fiscal-year 2025-26 cost-of-living increases for elected officials. Council attorney Judge Girma said the city charter requires a referendum to change elected officials' compensation.
The Utica Common Council discussed Introductory Local Law No. 2 of 02/2025, a proposal to suspend cost-of-living salary increases for the mayor, controller, treasurer, president of the common council and common council members for fiscal year 2025–26.
The measure, as read at the meeting, would suspend provisions of section 2.025 of the Utica city charter to reduce required cost-of-living adjustments from 3% to 0% for the listed offices and says it would “become effective in accordance with the municipal home rule law, 04/01/2025.” A motion was made to pull the local law from the table for consideration; discussion followed but the transcript does not record a final council vote on the local law.
The discussion centered on whether the charter's cost-of-living rule was even triggered and whether the council can change compensation without referral to voters. One council member noted, “CPI this year was 2.9%,” and observed that prior-year CPI figures (which the speaker said were 3.4% for the previous year) complicated entitlement to raises under the charter. That speaker said the prior year’s 3.4% raise had not been implemented and characterized that as a waiver in practice.
Judge Girma, identified in the meeting as the common council attorney, told members the charter requires voter approval to change compensation. “The local law and the provisions under paragraph J of section 23 require a referendum when you change the compensation in any way,” he said, adding that the rule covers compensation broadly and not just base salary. Several council members said they concurred with Girma’s assessment.
Council members also discussed procedural questions about whether a roll-over or CPI calculation in the charter would trigger automatic increases; some members argued the CPI did not reach the threshold that would legally require raises in 2025–26 and that the charter therefore already allowed a 0% outcome without the proposed local law.
The transcript records that members raised the question of whether a future council and the mayor would be able to act on any changes if the issue reached referendum, but no final determination was entered on the floor during the recorded portion of this special meeting.
Next steps: The local law was pulled from the table for discussion; the transcript does not show a final vote on the local law during this session, and council members asked for legal clarification from city legal staff before proceeding further.
